West Mersea incident- Cause of death revealed for boy in drowning

A seven-year-old boy drowned off an Essex beach and suffered a fatal brain injury while on holiday with his family, a coroner has heard. <i>(Image: NQ)</i>
A seven-year-old boy drowned off an Essex beach and suffered a fatal brain injury while on holiday with his family, a coroner has heard. (Image: NQ)
This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald.

A seven-year-old boy died from a brain injury after drowning off the Essex coast, an inquest has been told.

Musa Ahmed, from Romford, got into difficulty in the water at West Mersea on July 22 while on a family holiday.

His cousin, 15-year-old Sameeha Rahman, and her mother, 41-year-old Shelina Rahman, both from Ilford, also died in the incident.

Senior coroner for Essex, Lincoln Brookes, described the deaths as 'tragic' during the opening of the inquest at Chelmsford County Hall today (August 13).

Mr Brookes said: "Clearly it is so tragic to come across any death of any individual but when three occur at the same time and of the same family, one cannot underestimate the tragic nature of such an incident."

Read more

He offered his 'deepest condolences' to the family, friends, and loved ones of the victims.

Musa was brought to shore, stabilised, and flown to the Royal London Hospital, where he died six days later on July 28.

A post-mortem examination recorded drowning as the provisional cause of death for all three, with hypoxic ischaemic brain injury also noted in Musa's case.

The inquest was adjourned until January 19, 2027.

Get involved
with the news

Send your news & photos